SUPPORTING STATEMENT - PART A
Workplace and Gender Relations Survey – 0704-0615
Summary of Changes from Previously Approved Collection
separate surveys for the OMB review process back in 2021, they were actually fielded as a single survey that utilized administrative data to pipe in "smart text" where appropriate to ensure we are speaking the "right language" based on whether or not the Service member was active duty, a member of the Reserves, or the National Guard. You will see there is a footnote on question 1 in the survey instrument that describes this.
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1. Need for the Information Collection
Sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination remain a major concern across the DoD and for members of Congress. In February 2004, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD[P&R]) testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the prevalence of sexual assault in the DoD and the programs and policies planned to address the issues. In accordance with legislative requirements, the USD(P&R) issued memoranda to the Services that provides DoD policy guidance on sexual assault that included a new standard definition, response capability, training requirements, response actions, and reporting guidance throughout the Department. The Sexual Assault and Prevention Response Office (SAPRO) supported implementation of the new policy and requires data to assess the prevalence of sexual assaults in the Department and the effectiveness of the programs they have implemented.
The Workplace and Gender Relations Surveys will assess the attitudes and opinions of military members on gender issues, including issues relating to sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and sexual assault, as well as the culture and climate of the units/organizations in which Service members serve. In accordance with 10 USC, Section 481, the WGR surveys solicit information on the following: 1) the positive and negative trends for professional and personal relationships between Service members; 2) the specific types of assault that have occurred and the number of times in the preceding year; 3) the effectiveness of DoD policies designed to improve professional relationships between male and female Service members; 4) the effectiveness of current processes for complaints, reports, and investigations; and, 5) specific issues related to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and gender discrimination that may inform the Department’s prevention and response efforts.
The legal requirements for the WGR surveys can be found in the following:
Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2005
NDAA for FY 2013, Section 570
DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6495.02
DoD Directive (DoDD) 6495.01
10 United States Code (USC), Section 136
10 USC, Section 481
10 USC, Section 1782
10 USC, Section 2358
These legal requirements mandate that the WGR surveys solicit information on gender issues, including issues relating to sexual assault (including unwanted sexual contact), gender-based harassment and discrimination, as well as the climate in the Armed Forces for forming professional relationships between male and female members. The legislation further requires that a survey is conducted for both Active component and Reserve component military members.
The WGR surveys continue a series of surveys that began in 1988. OPA conducted Joint Service gender issues surveys of active-duty members in 1988, 1995, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2018, and of Reserve component members in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2019, and of both active duty and Reserve component members in 2021 and 2023. The WGR survey will be for both active duty and Reserve component members using the same survey instrument with component-specific smart text to personalize to an active vs. Reserve vs. National Guard Service member.
2. Use of the Information
The target population for the WGR includes active duty members serving in the Active component from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard and Reserve component members in the Selected Reserve (in Reserve Units, Active Guard/Reserve (AGR/FTS/AR Title 10 and Title 32), and Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) programs) from the Army National Guard, U.S. Army Reserve, U.S. Navy Reserve, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve.
The WGR surveys provide participants an opportunity to be heard on issues that directly affect them and specifically related to unwanted gender-related behaviors. The data generated by the survey will help the DoD assess the effectiveness of current policies and programs and help to inform potential improvements. More specifically, information from the WGR surveys will be used by Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD[P&R]) policy offices and the Military Departments to assess and improve personnel policies, programs, practices, and training related to gender relations in the military informed by current and statistically reliable information. This survey is essential for providing insight to policymakers on the prevalence of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination in the military—all of which directly impact Service member health, well-being, and military readiness.
A distinguishing feature of the WGR surveys is the ability to track changes in the prevalence of unwanted gender-related experiences over time. OPA does this by maintaining consistency in both content (i.e. the survey constructs and scales) and the survey methodology. As policies, programs, or legal opinions change, it may become necessary to modify the survey content in order to ensure that it best supports the information requirements of the Department and military Services. However, since the last administration of the survey, no additional changes have been made to the survey instrument.
OPA will administer the WGR survey to both Active component and the Reserve component members via the web. One survey instrument is utilized with component-specific smart text to personalize to an active vs. Reserve vs. National Guard Service member.
The survey is administered via proprietary software developed by OPA’s operations contractor. To reduce respondent burden, web-based surveys use “smart skip” technology to ensure respondents only answer questions that are applicable to them.
Service members start the survey by going to OPA’s consolidated survey landing page (dodsurveys.mil) and entering the unique ticket number provided to sample members in individual communications (e-mails and postal mail) about the survey. Service members who do not have their ticket number can also use their DoD Identification (DoDID) and day of birth (i.e., 1 to 31) to lookup their ticket number on a lookup site maintained by OPA’s operations contractor. OPA has improved accessibility of the survey site by optimizing it for mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets).
Service members who are not randomly selected to participate in the full survey will have the option take an abbreviated, 10-question, survey. The abbreviated survey is also accessed via OPA’s survey landing page (dodsurveys.mil). After entering their DoDID number to confirm that they are not sampled into any of OPA’s full surveys, Service members will be presented with the abbreviated Workplace and Gender Relations Survey. The informed consent web screen advises respondents of precisely which survey they are taking. Only non-sample members will have the option to take the abbreviated survey.
Persons in the sample who are not active refusers will be contacted by postal and electronic mail (i.e. e-mail) as described below. Copies of draft postal letters and e-mail messages are provided as an attachment.
Sample members for whom OPA has postal addresses may receive: one (1) postal announcement letter and one (1) reminder postcard. The postal announcement will be sent on or shortly after the survey opens. The reminder letter and postcard will only be sent to sample members who have not responded. Sample members for whom OPA has email addresses may receive: one (1) announcement e-mail and up to six (6) e-mail reminders. The announcement e-mail will be sent on the day the survey opens or shortly thereafter. The reminder e-mails will be sent only to those selected sample members who have not yet responded to the survey or who are not active refusers. The six e-mail reminders will be sent approximately every seven to ten days. Survey email notifications will be sent via the software STRONGMAIL. Only sample members will receive postal or email communications from OPA.
Letters and e-mails will have instructions on how to stop receiving further reminders. Anyone who indicates by phone, fax, postal mail, or e-mail they do not want to participate in the survey will be coded as an active refuser. These active refusers can be identified on OPA’s confidential files and the Survey Control System (SCS) files of OPA’s operations contractor. These files contain information from our records that were used in designing the sample. In addition, the SCS files contain the name and address information that was required to administer the survey. Prior to the generation of notifications and reminder lists, active refusers will be excluded from the notification/reminder lists. Also, prior to the generation of all notification and reminder lists, the members of the sample will be checked against the latest OPA-provided records of the recently deceased.
Surveys will be administered via proprietary software developed by OPA’s operations contractor. OPA and their operations contractor will have access to the completed collection instruments and the resulting electronic database(s). Each of these organizations’ network sites will be secure and password protected. Security will be strictly enabled by using physical and software access restrictions. Each file will be tightly controlled by OPA and by OPA’s operations contractor behind firewalls with password-protected access on a need-to-know basis. Password protected files will be sent via secure file transfer protocols (FTPs) or DoD Secure Access File Exchange (DoD Safe) to OPA’s operations contractor; FTPs will automatically encrypt files. Passwords will be conveyed by telephone or sent via a digitally signed encrypted e-mail. OPA’s operations contractor will secure and then shred all hard copies at the end of the project contract.
Datasets containing survey responses will never contain names, addresses, or e-mail addresses; rather, they will include only randomly generated identification (ID) numbers. The data for these surveys will be stored on DoD servers only. In accordance with the existing data sharing agreement between OPA and the Army Analytics Group (AAG), WGR data may also be stored and analyzed in the Person-Event Data Environment (PDE); a data repository for data storage and analysis maintained and operated by the AAG. Transfer of data to the PDE will take place via DoD-Safe using encryption and password protection. WGR data may also be stored and analyzed in Advana (a DoD data repository similar to the AAG’s PDE).
Before data can be shared, OPA will perform a confidentiality and data disclosure analysis to reduce the risk of there being a combination of demographic variables that can identify an individual. To prevent identification, some variables will be removed or combined with other variables for the basic dataset. The sample members most vulnerable to identification would be members who exemplify a particularly rare combination of demographic characteristics, such as high pay grade, women, and/or ethnic minority status, and circumstances that would permit someone with knowledge or access to other military records to possibly merge those data sources to produce identification. To mitigate this risk, OPA will ensure that there are at least 10 respondents in any cell for any report that is created and distributed. If there are less than 10 respondents in any cell, variables will be grouped until that threshold is met.
Ultimately, results from the WGR surveys have been and will continue to be used by policy leaders to make decisions informed by current and statistically reliable information. More specifically, the data have been used to not only meet congressional reporting requirements, but also in support of multiple lines of effort:
Commencing DoD Actions and Implementation to Address Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in the Military
WGR serves as the mechanism by which we meet the requirement to publish both past-year prevalence, prior to joining the military prevalence, and lifetime prevalence of sexual assault and sexual harassment by race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Assessing the Continuum of Harm
Demonstrating the relationship between climate factors (e.g., workplace hostility, sexual harassment, and unit member actions) and sexual assault.
DoD Prevention Plan of Action (PPoA)
Recognizes that the collection and use of data—to include data regarding prevalence, risk, & protective factors—is critical to prevention.
Men’s Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Working Group.
Improving the Department’s ability to increase awareness about male sexual assault, provide support to the needs of men, promote engagement with the DoD response system by men, and prevent the crime.
Measuring Retaliation & Other Outcomes Associated with Reporting in Support of the DoD’s Comprehensive Strategy to Prevent Retaliation.
Measuring reprisal, ostracism, & maltreatment related to reporting sexual assault.
Program Evaluation & Innovation
Assessing the effectiveness of existing or planned programs
3. Use of Information Technology
100% of submission will be electronic. OPA will administer the WGR surveys via the web only. OPA has improved accessibility of the survey site by optimizing it for mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets) in order to increase the electronic submission rate and the response rate more broadly.
4. Non-duplication
The information obtained through this collection is unique and is not already available for use or adaptation from another cleared source.
5. Burden on Small Businesses
This information collection does not impose a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses or entities.
6. Less Frequent Collection
The frequency of collection is driven by congressional requirement.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines
This collection of information does not require collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation and Public Comments
Part A: PUBLIC NOTICE
A 60-Day Federal Register Notice (FRN) for the collection published on Tuesday, February 13, 2024. The 60-Day FRN citation is 89 FRN 10058.
No comments were received during the 60-Day Comment Period.
A 30-Day Federal Register Notice for the collection published on Tuesday, May 28, 2024. The 30-Day FRN citation is 89 FRN 46091.
Part B: CONSULTATION
None.
9. Gifts or Payment
No payments or gifts are being offered to respondents as an incentive to participate in the collection.
10. Confidentiality
The System of Record Notice (SORN) for this collection is DMDC 08 (Survey and Census Data Base [October 02, 2007, 72 FR 56062]).
The WGR surveys, including the collection of personal numbers, are covered by a PIA (Survey Database, [December 18, 2020], DHRA/OPA).
11. Sensitive Questions
The WGR surveys ask questions of a sensitive nature including questions related to: experiences of unwanted sexual contact/sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination. The survey is scientifically designed to produce the most reliable estimates of unwanted gender related behavior. To do so, the survey includes behaviorally anchored and specific questions regarding these experiences in lieu of more broad terminology that may be more difficult to interpret. The WGR surveys provide the Defense Department’s only official estimates of sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact/sexual assault, and gender discrimination making the collection of these data, in a reliable and usable manner, critical to prevention and response. Resources are identified for those respondents who may experience distress associated with any of these questions.
In order to further support the Defense Department’s sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention efforts, and consistent with the DoD’s Prevention Plan of Action, the WGR surveys will also include questions related to sexism. These questions are intended to measure attitudes and beliefs that prior research has shown to be correlated with engaging in unwanted gender-related behaviors or willingness to report these behaviors to the authorities. Including these items will allow OPA to measure the pervasiveness of these beliefs and provide additional data to support the development of evidence-informed interventions.
The WGR surveys also include questions related to sexual orientation, gender identity, race/ethnicity in order to provide the most comprehensive analyses of Service members’ experiences with unwanted gender related behavior and an assessment of risk. Similarly, questions related to Service members’ perceptions regarding racial harassment and/or discrimination will provide additional insight regarding other aspects of the organizational climate that may be related to the prevalence or risk of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Specifically, related to questions around race/ethnicity, the WGR surveys should receive an exemption from the requirement to use Figure 1 in the Statistical Policy Directive 15 Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15). Currently, we ask respondents whether they “Are Spanish/Hispanic/Latino?” and they can select either “No, not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino” or “Yes, Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino” followed by a question that asks “What is your race? Mark one or more races to indicate what you consider yourself to be.” and the Service member can select one or more of the following response options: “American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian (for example, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese); Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (for example, Samoan, Guamanian, or Chamorro); White.” Currently, in the 2023 WGR, we do not have enough respondents to report these race/ethnicity categories by Service and by Gender for the Reserve component. Implementing Figure 1 would increase survey burden on an already lengthy survey for little to no return in reportable data. Using Figure 1 would likely reduce the amount of reportable data by Service and gender for the Active component and it would most certainly reduce the reportable data for the Reserve component. Figure 2 in SPD 15 is most similar to what we most recently implemented in the 2023 WGR, may allow for trending to be maintained across WGR administration years, would keep the survey burden similar to the existing items, and it would not decrease the amount of reportable data that we could provide.
12. Respondent Burden and its Labor Costs
Part A: ESTIMATION OF RESPONDENT BURDEN
Collection Instrument(s)
Workplace and Gender Relations Survey (WGR);
Workplace and Gender Relations Abbreviated Survey (Abbr)
Number of Respondents:
202,800 (WGR)
1,500 (Abbr)
Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1
Number of Total Annual Responses: 204,300
202,800 (WGR)
1,500 (Abbr)
Response Time:
0.5 hours (WGR)
0.10 hours (Abbr)
Respondent Burden Hours:
101,400 hours (WGR)
150 hours (Abbr)
Total Submission Burden
Total Number of Respondents: 204,300
Total Number of Annual Responses: 204,300
Total Respondent Burden Hours: 101,550 hours
Part B: LABOR COST OF RESPONDENT BURDEN
Collection Instrument(s)
Workplace and Gender Relations Survey (WGR);
Workplace and Gender Relations Abbreviated Survey (Abbr)
Number of Total Annual Responses: 204,300
202,800 (WGR)
1,500 (Abbr)
Response Time:
0.5 hours (WGR)
0.10 hours (Abbr)
Respondent Hourly Wage: $51.56
Labor Burden per Response:
$25.78 (WGR)
$5.16 (Abbr)
Total Labor Burden: $5,235,924
$5,228,184 (WGR)
$7,740 (Abbr)
Overall Labor Burden
Total Number of Annual Responses: 204,300
Total Labor Burden: $5,235,924
The Respondent hourly wage was determined by using the Department of Defense Cost Guidance Portal (https://www.cape.osd.mil/)
13. Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs
There are no annualized costs to respondents other than the labor burden costs addressed in Section 12 of this document to complete this collection.
14. Cost to the Federal Government
Part A: LABOR COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Collection Instrument(s)
Workplace and Gender Relations Survey (WGR);
Workplace and Gender Relations Abbreviated Survey (Abbr)
Number of Total Annual Responses: 204,300
Processing Time per Response: .02 hours
Hourly Wage of Worker(s) Processing Responses: $81.35
Cost to Process Each Response: $1.63
Total Cost to Process Responses: $333,009
Overall Labor Burden to the Federal Government
Total Number of Annual Responses: 204,300
Total Labor Burden: $333,009
Part B: OPERATIONAL AND MAINTENANCE COSTS
Cost Categories
Equipment: $0
Printing: $0
Postage: $1,320,000
Software Purchases: $0
Licensing Costs: $0
Other: $2,900,000
Total Operational and Maintenance Cost: $4,220,000
Part C: TOTAL COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Total Labor Cost to the Federal Government: $333,009
Total Operational and Maintenance Costs: $4,220,000
Total Cost to the Federal Government: $4,553,009
15. Reasons for Change in Burden
Burden has not changed.
16. Publication of Results
The survey administration will take approximately a year and a half to complete – to include survey design and development, fielding and administration, and data analysis and reporting. OPA will field the survey between August and November of odd calendar years and then continuing on a biennial basis (i.e. every other year).
In total, OPA will publish a minimum of three reports related to the survey—an Overview Report; a Statistical Methodology Report; and a Results and Trends Report (i.e. tabulations of responses). Tabulations of responses, an overview report, and briefings will be prepared by April 30th all of the calendar year immediately following the survey administration. Data will be analyzed on an ongoing basis beyond the mandatory reporting in order to support further analyses or information requirements that develop during the course of, or after, briefings and delivery of the survey reports.
17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date
We are not seeking approval to omit the display of the expiration date of the OMB approval on the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions”
We are not requesting any exemptions to the provisions stated in 5 CFR 1320.9.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Kaitlin Chiarelli |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2024-07-20 |